First, let's start with Wednesday's game at West Point between Army and Holy Cross.

The Black Knights make their entrance.

The referee drops the puck.

Brian Riley and his Black Knights watch the action from the bench.

The Crusaders start out from behind their net.

Lyle Gal is ready for the Crusaders.

Gal maneuvers on the power play.

Owen Meyer sends the puck back out to the point.

Rob Godfrey heads back behind the net for the Crusaders.

Army's spirit band made a mid-week appearance at Tate Rink.

The Crusaders' Charlie Lockwood steadies the puck after Army's penalty kill clears it down the ice.

Army's Chase Podsiad patrols the blueline.

After 65 minutes of hard-fought hockey, the Black Knights and Crusaders shake hands.

The Black Knights salute their fans.

Now, moving on to last night's thriller between UConn and Air Force at the Mark Edward Freitas Ice Forum.

Jonathan Husky Dog is ready for action, especially now that someone put a jersey on him.

Air Force's Brent Olson is ready to go.

Air Force's Eric Ehn tries to get past Jarrett Scarpaci.

The Falcons had a strong cheering section at Friday's game, thanks to the homecoming of Air Force assistant captain Brian Gineo, who hails from South Windsor, Conn.

Mike Phillipich looks for a move,while Michael Mayra mans the blueline.

UConn's Matt Scherer gets set to take a faceoff

Alec Kirschner passes the puck along the blueline.

The Huskies celebrate taking the lead.

The UConn band plays after the Huskies score.

Bruce Marshall gets the Huskies ready for Air Force's extra-skater attack late in the game.

Late in the game, Ehn looks for an opening from behind the net.

The Huskies salute the fans after thrilling them with an off-the-charts comeback.

- Apparently, the locker room scene that preceded UConn's third-period explosion didn't include much in the way of yelling or screaming. According to head coach Bruce Marshall, the scene was really pretty loose, as he said, "Hey guys, the season's a marathon. We need to manage the race a little bit better, what we're doing here. We've got to stop trying to go so hard, and we've got to do a better job of game-management-type stuff. Let's go, let's see what can happen in the third period." I'd be surprised, though, if Marshall expected anything to happen quite like what we saw.

- The textbook redirect play by Solberg was a particularly big boost, according to Marshall, "because Soli's a third-line player for us, and to get a third-line guy to bang a goal home for us, it definitely got us going. It really put a jump in our step right there."

- Marshall also confirmed my earlier suspicion: that was an abnormally large crowd for the Huskies, and the wild game might just help bring some of those people back more often. "That's definitely the biggest crowd we've had this season. It was good college atmosphere. The kids have exams coming up, and I'm glad they came out and supported us. It was a lot of fun with the band here and all of that. You need to give them a reason to come back, and an exciting game like that may bring them back a little bit more."

- Over on the other side, the game may have lingering effects down the road for Air Force, and head coach Frank Serratorre is not happy about it. "That's two of those that we gave up," Serratorre said, referencing an earlier loss to Bentley, "and I'll tell you what: those four points are going to haunt us at the end of the year when we look at the seedings for the playoffs, I guarantee you."

- So how did it get to that point? "UConn came out with a different intensity level than they had previous," Serratorre said, "and they put pucks on the net and we were unable to stop them. They put some shots with some mustard on the net, but everything they threw went in. You've got to take your hat off to them. They took advantage of their opportunities. It's a 60-minute game, not a 40-minute game."

- It was an unbelievable game, to be sure, but it's one that leaves me not quite knowing what to make of these teams. Is Air Force the team that built the three-goal lead in the first 40 minutes, or the team that allowed five unanswered goals in the last 20? Is UConn the team that was clearly overmatched over the first two periods, or the firey bunch that I saw in the third? The records of both teams would suggest that Air Force is really a good team and UConn is really not, but there's another half of a season that will tell us whether that's really the case.

- I do like Air Force's active sticks and diligent backchecking, and I also like the way they get out and skate and really try to make things happen out there on offense. Eric Ehn is clearly the real deal. Even though I didn't see him score any goals on Friday, I can see how he gets them.

- As for the other two Atlantic Hockey teams I saw this week, Army is...well, Army: good active sticks, very solid positionally on defense, and does a good job of putting together some offense without much real flair. Josh Kassel has been good in net, and as picked up admirably for the graduated Brad Roberts.

- Holy Cross, meanwhile, is certainly a new team from the squad that gave Minnesota fans something that the rest of the WCHA will never let them live down. Paul Pearl has a younger team in net and up front, although James Sixsmith is still quite capable offensively. They're still competitive in Atlantic Hockey, but I think this year will belong to a different team, possibly current league leader Sacred Heart.

Alright, those are my Atlantic Hockey thoughts for the time being. Tonight, it's back to the ECACHL, with RPI visitng Princeton at Baker Rink. I'll see you at 7 p.m.